E 

757 



Theodore Roosevelt 

An Appreciation 

JOSEPH S. AUERBACH 




Class E757 

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OF THIS VOLUME ONE THOUSAND AND FIFTY 

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OCTOBER MCMXXIII 



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Jy-:^u^^^O't^^Cn^ 



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Theodore "^B^osevelt 

^n (^Appreciation 
JOSEPH S. AUERBACH 



LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO, 

55 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON 

TORONTO, BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS 
1923 






COPYRIGHT, 1923 
BY LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 



©C1A759697 
NOV -5 7^ 



->!& I 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 



Theodore 'T^oose^elt 



A 



REPUBLICAN gathering like this, Mr. Chair- 
man, may seem a strange resort for a Democrat j and 
yet if gregariously inclined, what other kind of politi- 
cal meeting can he frequent unless the coming election 
turns out to be a landslide for the once accredited party 
to which I belong. An incident of which I was an 
amused spectator prompts me, however, not to dwell 
unduly on the misfortunes of what some facetious soul 
has termed that late party. 

At a dinner of the New York State Branch of the 
Ohio Society, shortly after the last Presidential elec- 
tion, among the speakers were a Senator of the United 
States and Mr. Job Hedges. The Senator had referred 
in rather lachrymose terms to the recent calamity 
visited upon the Democratic party, and, as illustrative 
of his sad estate, read an irrelevant verse or two from 
Deuteronomy. When Mr. Hedges' turn came to 
speak, he announced his failure to understand the ap- 
propriateness of the Scriptural reference j and won- 
dered, why if any Bible book must be quoted from on 

* Address at the Annual Dinner of the Nassau County Republi- 
can Club, October 27, 1922. 

S 



6 THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

such an occasion, Exodus was not to be preferred to 
Deuteronomy! 

Nevertheless, considering the fact that your meet- 
ing is primarily in commemoration of the birthday of 
Theodore Roosevelt, let me not regard myself as a 
Democrat among Republicans, but, according to the 
felicitous phrase of your Chairman, as a neighbor 
among neighbors, paying tribute to one of the com- 
manding personalities in American life. 

At the outset, however, let me say that I do not 
entertain views which, at times, seem to be required 
of one who presents himself as a so-called Roosevelt 
man. I am not here to indulge in adulation of him, 
since that would be an offense to his memory as well 
as to you. F'or I am one of those who think that he 
erred more than once by word and deed in his public 
life J that some of the things he did might with profit 
have been differently done, and some of the things 
said differently saidj and, again, that some of the 
things said and done might better have never been 
said or done at all. His own frankness over his mis- 
takes is conclusive proof that he would have no one 
claim infallibility for him. He never committed what 
Carlyle regarded as the greatest of faults, to be con- 
scious of none. Vehement of utterance, he was more 
than once answerable to the charge of inconsistency, 
though we are to remember Emerson's injunction that 
a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. 

Nor was he, uniformly, the persuasive advocate, 
failing, on occasions, to understand that ideas become 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 7 

acceptable and current according to the time, place and 
circumstance of their presentation. Not always the 
apostle of reconciliation, he promoted opposition to 
some of his proposals because of the uncompromising 
and unhappy method whereby they were urged. At 
times, too, it would seem as if he adopted but the 
means of expediency to further the end desired, thereby 
detracting, in no small measure, from his repute and 
influence. Yet this is to be said defensively of him, 
that when his motives were tried in the court of his 
own conscience, he considered that there was no justi- 
fication for criticism, much less for rebuke. Nor, 
knowing of his abhorrence of self-deception, may we 
lightly disregard this personal vindication of himself. 

Any thought of his shortcomings, however, should 
not be determinative or even too influential in our 
estimate of him whom we honor to-day. For we are 
to judge individuals not alone by what unwisely they 
have done or failed to do, but by a knowledge of the 
extent to which the credits predominate over the debits, 
when the balance sheet of their accomplishment in life 
is made up for posterity. 

Burns puts much of the true philosophy of reason- 
ableness into the lines: 

What^s done we partly may commute 
But know not what^s resisted. 

Or, perhaps you would prefer to think of the unwis- 
dom of Theodore Roosevelt, as sharing the same 



8 THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

gracious destiny accorded by Sterne to the oath of 
Uncle Toby: 

" The avenging spirit which flew up to Heaven's 
Chancery with the oath, blushed as he gave it inj and 
the recording Angel, as he wrote it down, dropped 
a tear upon the word and blotted it out forever." 

J.N FACT, it will be a correct view if we realize that 
Theodore Roosevelt's conceded greatness is, in no 
negligible manner, enhanced by the concession, that 
some of his utterances and acts were not unwarrantably 
the subject of censure. For when we appraise what he 
has left to us by way of word and deed, it must in- 
creasingly be realized that the American people have 
received from him, as from none other, the priceless 
legacy of an imperious summons to responsive citizen- 
ship. 

Before referring, however, to the significance of this 
legacy, we may advantageously recall some of the 
distinguishing attributes of the man which made it 
possible for his life to be so appealingly rich in purpose 
and achievement. 

Wholly without vanity, he had the rare virtue of 
candor which so often is a manifestation of distinction 
in character. He never wished to be canonized as 
"Sir Oracle." Let me give you one or two illustrations 
of this trait in him. 

When a candidate for the Governorship of the State 
of New York, he asked me to call at his headquarters, 
the old Fifth Avenue Hotel. On arrival there, I 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 9 

learned that he wished to have my private secretary 
— a clever speaker and a Rough Rider — as one of 
his campaign orators. Of course, I assented, adding 
that inasmuch as the young man would probably go 
irrespective of my wishes, I might as well have the 
credit of letting him go. As we discussed this young 
man, Roosevelt inquired of me why, in view of his 
general ability, he had not made an independent suc- 
cess of life. After characterizing him as a rolling 
stone, I suggested that, inasmuch as it was the month 
of October when wise men went a-hunting, he might 
be classified as a rabbit dog. For a requested explana- 
tion of the epithet, I stated that now and then the 
most self-respecting game-bird dog, if a rabbit per- 
chance had crossed the trail, would quit his professional 
job and forthwith go rabbit chasing. The comment, 
with the accompaniment of an engaging smile, was: 
" Well, I don't wish to consider that an insuperable 
defect in a man, for I'm a good deal of a rabbit dog 
myself." 

Let me give you another instance of his candor, 
recounted to me by an Associate Justice of the Supreme 
Court of the United States. When Roosevelt came to 
Washington as Vice-President, he called several times 
at the home of the Judge, who, by reason of exacting 
Court work, had overlooked the fact until attention 
was called to it by one of his household. The next 
morning he visited the Vice-President to express his 
regret j but Roosevelt demurred to any apology, ex- 
plaining that he had called on quite a selfish errand 



lo THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

— to get advice as to a course of law study. The 
Judge, attracted by the suggestion, said that he would 
not only gladly recommend the proper books, but that 

— inasmuch as he never wrote opinions on Saturday 
evenings — he would be pleased if Roosevelt would 
then come to his house and be quizzed concerning the 
intervening reading. Roosevelt expressed himself as 
" delighted." 

The summer came, McKinley was shot, and Roose- 
velt became the President of the United States. 
Naturally, nothing further was done concerning the 
project. 

In the November following, the Judge was re- 
quested to come to the White House one evening. 
On arrival there, Roosevelt was found with only a 
few intimates discussing an outline of his proposed 
message to Congress. On learning of the occasion for 
the invitation, the Judge insisted that he ought not to 
be present, inasmuch as by some possibility, some of 
the things to be said in the message might be the 
subject of judicial consideration later. Roosevelt urged 
that, in view of the extreme unlikelihood of this, the 
Judge remain J and against his judgment he consented. 
As the discussion proceeded, the impression made upon 
the Judge was that, in some particulars, the message 
would savor of unwisdom, both as to subject-matter 
and form. And, notwithstanding the general com- 
mendation, the Judge, importuned by Roosevelt to 
express himself, spoke briefly but emphatically of his 
misgivings and thereupon went away. 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT ii 

The message when it reached Congress, was of the 
most temperate character, in some respects quite dif- 
ferent from that outlined in the interview j and the 
Judge thought no more of the matter, concluding that 
upon reflection Roosevelt of his own motion had de- 
cided upon the modification. The Judge later had 
the misfortune, as he expressed it, to attend a reception 
at the White House, where a happening, which after- 
wards became more or less public, enabled him to tell 
me of this episode. When he entered the room, the 
President, in characteristically summary manner el- 
bowed a way to himj and seizing the hand of the 
Judge, and shaking it almost out of its socket, he 
waved his disengaged hand to those present and said 
something after this fashion : " Let me introduce you, 
not to one of the great Judges of the world but to a 
great man, who, when he knew of views in my pro- 
posed message to Congress, had the courage to prevent 
me from making what might have been a critical 
mistake." 

The Judge's comment was, that few persons in such 
high official position would have felt at liberty to be 
equally candid j not only because of vanity but of 
solicitude lest the declaration might affect injuriously 
the prestige of the Chief Magistrate of the Nation. 

He had no fear of gathering about him great men 
or of awarding praise where it was due. In fact, he 
had no fear upon any subject. It may be said of him 
as Mr. Root said of Mr. Choate: 

" He was wholly free of any impediment of timid- 



12 THEODOKl. KUC)>1.\ 1 l.f 

ity. This quality did not impress one as being the 
kind of courage which overcomes fear, but, rather, 
a courage which excluded fear. With him, no such 
emotion as fear seemed to exist." 

He understood well the import of the lines of 
Shakespeare: 

To fetr the foe^ sime fesr oppresseth jtrenglh. 
Gives m your tceakness sirenfth unto your foe^ 
And so your follies fight sg^aitut yourself. 

And Walt Whitnun must have had in mind a 
Roosevelt when he chanted this stanza in A So 

(/ i" .'.rtsirtr .. . -'. r '.rnnes un- 

JsunteJ' 
To he entirely sJome wish ihem, to finj ho*x mu^h 

one csn stand* 
To look strifr, lor lure ^ popular oJ$um fs^e to fd^e' 
To mount the jij^old, i ■.. ^ . .;. ^ -^iuzzles of 

gum with perftii r. 
To he indeed s God' 

His charaaeristic courage was all-embracing, of the 
kind pictured by Emerson: the persuasion that he was 
here for cause, and assigned to this place by the 
Creator to do the work inspired in him. It was not 
merely that which sweepw men into combat under the 
proddings of fervor, or commits them to the advocacy 
of the popular movcmcnr. It was equally that un- 
flinching resolve which compels pursuit of the worthy 



THKODORK ROOSEVELT 13 

idea, in the face of superciliousness, disparagement or 
even ruthless criticism. With the indomitable spirit 
of martyr and zealot, he undertook, so far as lay in 
his power, to see to it that neither arrogant wealth 
nor privilege should forbid merit to pass unchallenged 
through the door of opportunity, .^nd his denuncia- 
tion of the narrowness and selfishness of business and 
political life, calls to mind the rallying words of 
Samuel J. Tilden, in his attack upon corruption in high 
places: " I will lead where anyone shall dare to follow, 
and I will follow where anyone shall dare to lead." 

He kept company with this, that and the other thing 
and person; with the man who hit hard with his fists; 
with the statesman, the politician, the scientist, the 
man of Ixrttcrs; and he met them always on terms 
of equality. There was one, however, with whom he 
never kept company — the professional altruist; and 
among the things with which he never kept company 
were sham, hypocrisy, and pretense, in any of their 
forbidding and sinister forms. His walk was never 
a strut. 

That he was the staunch enemy of physical, mental 
and spiritual slothfulness in life many of his utter- 
ances testify: 

" 1 wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble case, 
but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil 
and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest 
form of success which comes, not to the man who 
desires mere easy peace, but to the man who docs 
not shrink from danger, from hardships, or from 



14 IinODOkK KCK)Sh\ I 1 1 

bitter toil, and who out of thcM; wins the splendid 
ultimate triumph." 

Sydney Smith says that Daniel Wclwtcr !>truck him 
as a locomotive in iruu*<rsi it would be difficult to 
imagine how the versatile and irrepre^ible clergyman 
would have pictured Theodore Roosevelt. 

How many-sided, too, he u-as in rcv>urceful in- 
formation' There is to-day a new thought m the 
minds of both laymen and lau'yer) concerning the 
judicial province. We sometimes think of it as • mere 
thumbing of the volumes of the reports by the Judge, 
to find a { ' ' ' ' ' " the c.r ' ' re him 

is ti» Ix d;.;... ; ^.nately ly the 

half truth, for the Judge under certain «. •> must 

be a legislator in the highest sense. In a wonderfully 
illuminating book — Th^ JuJtctsi I^rw^a, by the di>- 
tit. ' ' ^ V. \ ■ ' • The Court 

o! -, , -■ - : rs 1-ectures 

delivered by him he Yale I. »l, I ctmc 

across this 

" Nearer to the truth, and i; ctwccn these 

extremes, are the v - * ^ )t a jurist, 

but whose intuit: , , deep and 

l>rilliant — the words of President Roosevelt in his 
message of December 8, 1908, t >ngrcss of the 

Ignited States: "The chief lawnukcr:* m our country 
mn\ Ix:, and often arc, the ■ " . Ixrcausc they are 
the final scat of authority. 1 rnc they interpret 

contract, property, vested rights, due process of law, 
liberty, they necessarily enact into law parts of a sys- 



IHl.ODORK kOOSEVKLT 15 

tern ui social philosophy i and as such interpretation 
is fundamental, they give direction to all law-making. 
The decisions of the courts on economic and social 
questions depend upon their economic and social phi- 
losophy; and for the peaceful progress of our people 
during the twentieth century we shall owe most to 
thf^sc judges who hold to a twentieth century economic 
and social phil(»ophy and not to a long outgrown 
philosophy, which was itself the product of primitive 
economic ctmditions." 

It is not strange, therefore, that Judge Cardozo says 
Roosevelt's intuitions and perceptions were deep and 
brilliant; or that he adds: 

'* What am I that, in those great moments onward, 
the rush and sweep of forces, my petty personality 
should deflect them by a hairbreadth. 

" Why should the pure light of truth be broken up 
and impregnated and colored with any element of my 
iKing? Such doubts and hesitations besiege one now 
and again. The truth is, however, that all these in- 
ward (juestionings are Ixjrn of the hope and the desire 
to transcend the limitations which hedge our human 
nature. Roosevelt, who knew men, had no illusions 
on this scoix. He was not positing an ideal. He was 
not fixing a goal. He was measuring the powers and 
endurance of those by whom the race is to be run." 

It Would be at least superfluous for one to add any 
thing by way of emphasis to this discriminating tribute. 



i6 TurnnoRF Roc)>i\ii.i 



H 



1> mcthcxl of address was intelligible ncK only 
to the scholar and man of affairs but also to the man 
of the street; for his mind w*as a spacious, well-ordered 
habitation, with practical, communicable culture as 
one of its chief possessions. His vivid, rugged style 
was never rhetorical • " '•'- Mishment of the uttered 
thought, but its very - c and soul^ for he was as 

incapable of any such vulgar offense as of decking 
himself out in gaudy raiment. He was rarely if ever 
trite, and must have Ixren in con ' I with the 

thought of John Morley, that a j . .; not turned 

into a profundity by being dressed up as a conundrum. 
The oft -quoted maxim of Buff on, !^ ttyU 0st l*homm^ 
m^ftte^ never had a more striking application than to 
Theo>.^. !* -sevelt. Th< ' ible word, the Mrnten- 

tious, ;-. -:;c, creative ;. .,,, the brilliant, pictur- 
esque or homely illustralion, the apt quotation and, last 
though by no nneans least, a saturation with the 
imagery and beauty and glory of the Bible vocabulary 
— without which the rc^ * ' s of the Knglish 

language is lost to us — .: him to attain to 

a unique mastery over expression, which is so often 
mastery over men and mastery over opportunity. 

He added marked dignity and increased power to 
ever)- office he u*as called upon to fill. \s Assembly- 
man of the State of New York, Civil Scr\'icc Com- 
missioner, Police Commissioner of the City of New 
York, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and as Governor 
of the State of New York, he invariably thought and 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 17 

expressed himself nationally. His versatility was 
matched only by his fixity and persistence of puq:^ose; 
and while filling out the term of McKinlcy, there was 
little or no doubt that he would be chosen as the 
candidate of his party at the approaching Republican 
National Convention. 



Lit me now, after this brief reference to a part 
of his equipment for the delivery of his arresting 
message, consider its character and mighty import to 
the American people. 

Upon his election as President of the United States 
— whereby his words and deeds which had been the 
subject of criticism, were condoned through an over- 
whelming popular endorsement — he came to consider 
himself the representative not of a party but of a 
whole people. And he continued until the end of his 
days, in high and low places — by language that was 
often abrupt and partaking little of conventionality — 
to preach not merely a valiant Americanism, but the 
admonishing gospel that we, in our day .md generation, 
were steadily ignoring or even repudiating the com- 
pelling obligation we owe to our neighbor and the 
State, and so were inviting for ourselves retribution 
of the gods. He did not arrogate to himself the dis- 
cover)' of this obligation, but it can Ix: justly claimed 
that he uncovered itj and though he gathered inspira- 
tion from the worthy men of our land and of other 
lands with whom such a conception was creed and 



1 8 TI IFOnc )Ul KtKJMA hLT 

dogma, he made of it a working rcligie'M. True 
enough it is, too, that the ' • men, « .• often 

distinguished fH>liticil \ .., excmj ; their 

life a vital recognition of this supenor n, yet 

Roosevelt towers above them all as the personification 
of that recognition. And with unique appropriatene» 
upon his - - il coat of arms might l^ the ' 
legend j^J pdjrts^f or ** To order u 

State." 

In a review of Well** creative Fm/mr^ in Amines I 
said: 

"He (Wcli- •■- - ^ .f N-asi 

Wealth and its vui^ , . .::/ation 

and concentration of that wealth and of our organized 
industr)' within an increanngly few hands, more than 
the Iv N of th :>«c of our much- vaunted 

indivKiii.il >.. •'•"-••• I .4..,,. ••-- - •-• • -- rtunity for 
all. It is apj M him • nic procett 

has begun to grind living men as well as inaninute 
matter; and he notes the ominous mutterings of a 
dir^approval that will not be mute, even though it 
must speak with the economic • ■' • •• 'f the demagogue. 
It is no longer a case of ou f»g or stifling the 

debate, but of the substitution of wise counsels for 
intemperate utterance and for . intemperate 

acts. And by wise counsels is mcu;i: :he introduction 
into our conceptions of national life, of many considera- 
tions which up to the present time we have ignored. 

" All of us frequently hear expressions of surprise 
over the appearance of this disapproval, at a time 



THKODORE ROOSEVELT 19 

when the evidences of material prosp>erity confront us 
everywhere. Vet wc must not forget that, fortu- 
nately, the American people think as well as eatj and 
it is a hopeful sign for the future that their consciences 
and intellects cannot be drugged with the full dinner 
pail. 

" By this It \:> not meant to suggest that all or even 
the larger part of this disar- - • ' • ■••tied. For 
much of it is superficial or n ;. men with 

evil or interested motives: much of it is full of crudi- 
ties. Vet, when all this is said, it remains true that 
at the present time there is flowing through this and 
other lands a great stream of influence to which — 
according as men variously view the contributions it 
has received from many sources — they have applied 
the several names of * discontent,' * unrest,* * social- 
ism,' * humanitarianism,* and a * great spiritual awaken- 
ing.' Whatever be its proper characterization, only 
our folly can persuade us that this influence in the 
world will disappear, or that it is wise for us to 
wish it to disappear. On the contrary, if indications 
count for anything, it gains in depth and volume as 
it sweeps on, and threatens to undermine the founda- 
tions of many things whose security we have until now 
regarded as beyond menace. Nor, as some think, can 
its current be dammed; for through or over any ob- 
struaion placed in its way, it would Ix: likely one day 
to rush with disastrous consetjuenccs. Nevertheless, 
what appears to many of us merely as a meaningless 
or destructive agency can be utilized for good. For 



20 THKODORK K(X:)SKVELT 

just as men by direaing the course of mighty riven 
into countless channels have turned deserts into fertile 
lands, so we, with this influence, can perhaps restore 
to usefulness the places in our national life — laid 
waste by selfishness, neglect, and the lack of regard 
for those things which concern the general welfare." 

Surely some like thought was in the mind of Theo- 
dore Roosevelt — as in that of Wells — even though 
he doul>tIcss understood that, in a distinct way, he was 
promoting unrest b>' his uncompromising reproof u%d 
warning. This gospel of a finer citizenship became to 
him not so much a ; n as aii n, and to 

it we can have profiiawic rr^nurse as .; muities thicken 
before us in our national life. ^M.* unless wc are 
steeped in aspirations such as he . for the guid- 

ing principle of progress, we cannot justifiably be- 
lieve that our Counir>' can even ^ way through 
those difllcultics. He had an faith in our 
great adventure of Republican ' ncni, only if, 
by taking counsel of the old virtues, we were made 
aware of the treacherous places which lay between the 
start and the goal. .Xnd the { and economic 
heresy, of which he u*as not mi -•'• •t'^cd, 
would to his way of thinking be the ._ o- 
nomic faith of to-morrow 

Nor can it be justifiably asserted that he erred in 
dissenting from much of the exist ' t — with- 

out always indicating clearly the ju... i^-^'-'ute 

or even by advising temporarily the im; ub- 

stitute. Like the wise physidan, he disclosed to us, 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 21 

in unambiguous terms, our besetting ailments, to the 
end that wc might understand how restoration to civic 
health depended upon conformity to the general 
counsels of wisdom. If not in sympathy with Brown- 
ing's " All's right with the world," he held steadfast 
to the thought that all will be right with the world, 
only if the principle upon which that order must be 
readjusted was through the corrective influence of love 
of countr)'. Wc were to call a halt in our so-called 
progress because we had lost the true path; and upon 
returning to the abandoned wa>-s, must resume the 
march with such new impulse and new resolve, as 
Would forbid or at least not invite a repetition of our 
error. 

He never indulged himself in jeremiads or vain 
regrets. By impassioned speech, in association with 
the saving grace of wit and humor, he manifested the 
exhilaration of the work to which he was dedicated. 
He knew next to nothing of the forlorn hope, if the 
flag he followed were upheld by standard bearers who 
might not faint. .And if his words betrayed no recon- 
ciliation with modern-day apathy towards State duty, 
we must remember that he was no lackadaisical Parlor 
Socialist, but regarded himself as not only the leader 
of an a^^iult against the fortified places where greed 
and insolence and ignorance lay entrenched, but as the 
herald of a new dawn in civic righteousness. Vet like 
the prophet of old he would say to us: "Keep the 
munition, watch the way, make the loins strong, fortify 
the power mightily." 



22 THKODOKK ROOSKVKLT 

Undoubtedly he might have presented even his tren- 
chant views with more of the amenities of debate; but, 
in his • ' ' ' 1 the mere cr 

Would ij; ..;... ... must take T"'^ 

as wc hnd him, with the virtue and 

ance of his message i but no one can read understand- 

ingly the record of his life and not feel that, accord- 

mg It) n r 

in failifr - :... 

mcth<xl . d was c . for the pri :i of 

his cause. And though at times he was accused of 

insincerity, no critic worthy the name has ever had the 

.. : ; . ; , . - . r 

t> fi»rv hr till not make the > 

of a d a great mmd and a great soul. 

Intolerant ol 1 ic of mind or tempcra- 

• ' ♦ ) way • •' ^ ^s or 

>, he V ap- 
peal be as a clarion Call to the Colors. Above all 
things the fer\id spirit ai' Mswerving fortitude 
constituted for him the vc c of p 

His life may be _ .^ \\^ 

never claimed to h. _ r^ > to ^^^ 

counsels of perfection or t of a timid con- 

vention; but with vows and girded loins, his impulse 
was ever for pr n toward ennobling ends. He 

was the irrecoiKi.i !. toe of corrupting ease and of 
self with its consuming love, which leaves no soil 



TMKODORF ROOSKVF.LT 23 

wherein brave deeds may root. He made no journey- 
ings to the land of Vanity Fair. At the bar of public 
opinion, he arraigned, as equal in guilt, affronting 
capital and labor truculent with wcaponcd threats; and 
coupled together in ignominy, the Pharisaical creed 
of the pew and the shiftiness of the market place. He 
warned us, as did Horace the Roman people, of dust- 
ladcn and unvisited altars of the go».ls, where irrever- 
ence had forgot to kneel. He inveighed against the 
reckless harvesting of the fields of opportunity by 
greed or unconcern, lest the promise of even gleanings 
there be denied to industr>' and thrift. He exalted 
the right, as understanding of its var>'ing import was 
vouchsafed to him; and, in the words of the Apocry- 
pha, he u*as among those who feared the Lord and 
Would kindle Justice as a light. His conception of 
service to the State was a religion, and his private life 
was unsullied by the breath of scandal. He never 
counted the cost of warfare with unworthincss; and, 
when the end came, he looked unafraid into the face 
of Death — his only conqueror. 

77; r ' ;( all cross* J, 'x^ath^d th^ capes f the voyage 

Slight wonder that it was given to him, as Matthew 
Arnold said it had Ixren given to a genius of letters, 
to come at last to sleep 

Ufuirr ihe zcinj^s of Renown. 



24 TinoDOKI. KOOSKVKLT 

>sJ . , 

i.^ C)\V, una: vio wc purpose doin^ wjtii icy 

he has transmitted to usr Arc wc but aimk .. de- 
claim concerning it or arc wc to put it out at interest 
so that abundant profit shall result? 

Admittedly wc arc compassed about b)' ominous 
problems. I am not given and if 

ever indirtcd for such a tra;. ^.. i ..... „re that 

the record of my thoughts will ensure my acquittal. 
Yet I have not that kind of optimism which a man 
was said to have who, falling from a twentieth story 
wind ' death, mu- ' 

a»hc , ,; "Well,;. ^ 

has happened >i Amrrican author Has 

said something to the etfcct that :ust is one who 

has had the misfortune to live over inu«.h with optimists; 
and may wc take the thought to he * *' * ' 

of forget fulnes*, that there i> a 

abroad in the land. 

True though it be that the records of htstory bear 
witnc» to our almost fulness 

when exposed to pcrtu- c us a 

hope that the outcome \'. n a, 

this hope, if reasonable, must be aJ! 
watchfulness and unfaltering effort. Great as is the 
accomplishment of our Countr\', it is mere vanity for 
us to • • -i ourselves as immune fror- •'" ' jcrs 
of tc ^ to be checked and of p be 

solved. .And if thus unwise, we must be content to 
witness the impairment of our obvious mission as a 



IHKODORF ROOSF.VFLT 25 

nation — destined, perhaps, to express the final judg- 
ment of mankind as to the experiment of a democracy. 

Kmerson, optimist though he was, voices these mis- 
givings as he contemplates the future: "The spread 
eagle must fold his foolish wings and be less of a 
peacock." And then he adds: 

" In this countr>-, with our practical understanding 
there is, at present, a great sensualism, a headlong 
devotion to trade and to the conquest of continent — 
to each man as large a share of the same as he can 
car\e for himself — an extravagant confidence in our 
talent and activity, which becomes, whilst successful, 
a scornful materialism, but with the fault, of course, 
that it has no depth, no rcscr>ed force to fall back 
upon when a reverse comes." 

.Matthew .Arnold, speaking with the authority of a 
thoughtful ol»scr\er and kmdly critic, in Numhrrs, one 
of his American addresses — by which he wished to 
be remembered more than by any of his other prose 
prcxluctions — says: 

"And the ph ' ' crs and the prophets, whom 
I at any rate am , .J to believe, and who say that 
moral causes govern the standing and the falling of 
states, will tell us that the failure to mind whatsoever 
thing's are elevated must impair with an inexorable 
fat.ihty the life of a nation, just as the failure to 
mmd whats<jcver things arc just, or whatsoever things 
are amiable, or whatsoever things are pure, will im- 
pair it; and that if the failure to mind whatsoever 
things are elevated should be real in your American 



26 rHKODORF KOOSfMIT 

dcmocnc) , anJ ih< .v into a Ui^casc, and take 

firm hold on you, : ... ;..c life of even the-'- •'^'••f 
United Stales must inevitably suffer and be : _ 
more and more, until it perish." 

I .ct us not deceive ounclves. We are drifting stead- 
ily away in " ' 

mcnt to an ;; . . J .. : -v ,......: 

that drifting to persist uc shall find ourselves upon 
the rocks or the shallows. Or, to drop the figure of 
speech, if we tolerate a continuance of these pernicious 
conditions wc invite the rule of the mob — a lienevo- 
Icnl mob, it may be — '''' f'^^ '" •'« nevertheless. W- 
ready the Crowd, the and vanguard 

of the mob, has appeared. 

XVe have particularly in our populous cities accen- 
■ ' - The doors oi 2 ' ' ■' ' - ' -y 

:utely flung wide , , .c 

of earth, since wc wished ?•» Ik Ug in y ri as 

wc were big in territor) ^ t essential for us to 

sul>N:ribe any R. S. V. I*, to our invitation; for we 

knew in ad\*ance that there ^'^ ' ' 'c no n- "v 

acceptance of it. Wc need n ' not, f • , 

to charaaerize these people : tjus names; 

rather let us call them The Many. But it can be said 
of them, without any offense to the wiser of these 
people themselves, that, as a rule they have no f-r 
ccption — scarcely even a notion — of the signih^ : - 
of citizenship. 

Yet there is another group of The Many at the 
other extreme, equally without such conception, and 



THEODOKK ROOSEVELT 27 

more blameworthy by reason of their advantages of 
birth and station. Bom and reared within the confines 
of the Republic, they have expatriated themselves in 
the land of Devil-Carcdom. They know next to noth- 
ing of the exhilarating music of the Union, to which 
they might keep valiant, rhythmic step, but seem con- 
tent with the servitude of degrading jazz. Moreover, 
in that land of l>cvil-Carcdom prevails a loathsome 
disease — the contagious itch for notoriety and vul- 
garity — which so invariably corrupt the public well- 
being. Not a few there have contracted the disease; 
and the best to Ixr said of the immune among them is, 
that they are afflicted with what Wells terms State 
blindness. 

In Ixriwccn these two extremes populated by The 
.Many, dwell those appreciative of the gravity of the 
situation, who would demonstrate their capacity to Ix! 
fit guardians of the integrity of our institutions, '^'ct 
we cannot arrogate to ourselves credit for such virtue 
except by setting an example which should |>ersuade 
these others of their remissness and dereliction. Nor, 
to this end, must we ever forget that individualism, 
laudable as it is, depends for its vindication upon our 
taking counsel together of revealed wisdom as well 
as of tradition. One supreme virtue Theodore Roose- 
\elt would inculcate in us, was that co-operation as 
well as rcconsecration to ideals was imperatively re- 
quired of us; and that recompense to the worthiest 
purpose and utterance and conduct must necessarily be 
meagre, unless the hands of our endeavor are joined 



28 THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

in the grip of a common interest. And if our thought 
be that even such endeavor would be unavailing, we 
have but to remind ourselves how, again and again, 
history has been at pains to record for us the reassur- 
ing precedent to the contrary. For always to the pru- 
dent few, when aroused and disciplined, we can con- 
fidently appeal for deliverance from error. Let us, 
as illustrative of this thought, recall that quickening 
Bible story of the twice-sifted army of Gideon. 

Over against Gideon and his army was the host of 
the Midianitesj and he was not even confident of the 
issue of the coming battle. He asked, therefore, for 
this sign from the Lord: that if in the evening he 
spread out a fleece of wool, in the morning the earth 
about the fleece should be dry and the fleece of wool 
wet with dew. The sign was given him, and the story 
says that the next morning he " wringed the dew out 
of the fleece, a bowl full of water." Yet he wished 
further to be reassured, and for the next morning he 
asked that the fleece which he was again to spread out 
should be dry and the earth about it wet. Again it was 
as he had asked, and now he was prepared to lead 
the attack j but the Lord said that the army must first 
be sifted so as to know of its courage. Therefore He 
told Gideon to off^er to all those that were " fearful 
or afraid " the choice to depart, and more than a score 
of thousands went their way. Once more Gideon was 
ready to give battle, but the Lord required now that 
the army be sifted again to learn of its prudence. Ac- 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 29 

cordingly he was directed to take those that remained 
to the water, and try them there by the manner of 
their drinking j and all those who bowed upon their 
knees to the water, thoughtless of the danger before 
them, were to be put aside, and only those who caught 
the water in their hands and lapped of it, as " a dog 
lappeth of water," with eyes to the front and on the 
foe, were to be chosen to answer to the roll-call. Then 
though but three hundred remained, these tried men 
went forth and prevailed. 

i3 TILL another menacing condition confronting us 
is our indifference to a salutary public opinion, pro- 
ceeding almost wholly from a flouting of civic re- 
sponsibility. I am not speaking of public opinion as 
to the approaching election, as to whether we are to 
have more snow this winter than we had last winter, or 
as to the probable winner of the next prize fight. I 
have in mind that public opinion, to which the Courts 
are attaching a determining importance in the construc- 
tion of statutes enacted by State legislatures. I have 
not the time to refer in detail to this, nor would you, 
perhaps, have the inclination to listen to me. Let me, 
nevertheless, at least say to you, that the Supreme 
Court of the United States has held that a State legis- 
lature, if it acts in good faith, which can scarcely ever 
be impugned, can enact into a so-called Emergency 
Statute that which it conceives — to quote the some- 
what undeterminative phraseology of the Court it- 
self — " is sanctioned by usage, or held by the pre- 



30 THEODORE KOOSEVEI.T 

vailing morality or strong and preponderant upiniou to 
be greatly and immediatcl) necessary to the public 
welfare." And the Courts nuy not interfere with the 
legislative mandate. 

We continue to talk glibly of our Federal Con- 
stitution as the ««»••• -' 1 palladium of lilxrrty," 
and in other ovcrv^ ^ , i^ci*. But it will be well 
for us to remember that the Emergency Statute sus- 
pends the operation of the Constitution, not in some 
of its • ■ V, Injt in its most vital provisions. It 

suspenvi. i. . ;iic life of the ^' • •- rhc Due IVoccss 
Clau»e, which giurantees to > . mc the right to 

liberty and the right to property; and it suspends an- 
other vital provision that a State may not pass a law 
impairing the ' * of a contract. In a very 

real Mrnsc < ••- » ...ii cxi •'•. t>n suflferance of 

the State 1 re. It is .j - to talk of per- 

suading the Court to modify this frequently announced 
view as to the Emergency Statute. ne effort 

would lie as futile as the attempt to ukc a modern- 
day . 'f . '' I with a shot gun. 

A ^'ly, wc must have in this country, as never 

before, a vigilant, anxious public opinion that will not 
be denied a hearing. Vet as to what kind of public 
opinion we have, 1 do not ask you to accept any 
ment of mine, but that of one of our notable edu...; 
and of a discriminating though loyal English friend 
of our institutions. 

Sa>'s Prof. J. E. Woodbridge of Columbia Uni- 
versity: 



THKODORK ROOSEVELT 31 

" \Vc do not know what public opinion really is or 
who really supports it. It is so uninformed and dis- 
organized, so lacking in real leadership, so unsupported 
by disciplined thought that almost any well-conducted 
propaganda can seize upon it and temporarily control 
it to almost any end." 

Says Mr. H. \V. Ncvinson in his Farevcell to 
Am^ric-a: 

" Good-bye to the wcar\ platitude, accepted as wis- 
i""i*s latest revelation! Good-bye to the docile 
• cnces that lap rhetoric for sustenance! Good-bye 
to politicians contending for aims more practical than 
principles! Good-bye to Republicans and Democrats, 
distin^'uishable only by mutual hatred! Good-bye to 
the land where Liberals arc thought dangerous and 
Radicals show red — where Mr. Gompers is called 
a Socialist, and .Mr. .Asquith would seem advanced! 
A land too large for concentrated indignation; a land 
where wealth Ixryond the dreams of British profiteers 
dwells, drevses, gorges, and luxuriates, emulated and 
unashamed' 1 am going to a land of politics violently 
divergent; a land where even Coalitions cannot coal- 
esce where meetings break up in turbulent disorder, 
and no platitude avails to soothe the savage breast; a 
land fierce for j>ersonal freedom, and indignant with 
rage for justice; a land where wealth is taxed out of 
sight, or for very shame strives to disguise its luxury; 
a land where an ancient order is passing away, and 
leaders whom you call extreme are hailed by Lord 



32 THKODOKF ROr^SFVFIT 

Chancellors as th. security. 

Good-bye, America! I am poinj; hfmr. 

"(.txxl-bye to the iruJiscrt.- appetite which 

Kulps lertures * . an.; ' " - ' as 

l:rcrature' C». new:/. who 

ask to psychtianaU-re my con . and 

silly dream d-byc to the exuberant religious or 

fanta>tii UlitU by which u i mankind still 

" • ' :x:ratcly to per • ' • *' min^ 

•■ rhc w, r\r - , -. -\: --.t' 1 

am goir. uch like yours, I am going 

to your spintuai home. ' 

Who 

«'f the 
Crowd ' 

Then, too, one like to 

lHu>r jv ■ .but it is a 

i:ri\- . ... „. "•• • -I? 

t • - \^- :: ->, we a*.v • ) 

our declamation. How can v •&, when, if 

quite frank, we must confess that, due to infirmit)' of 
. even the 

t..;.. .^ the Great .., ;,. ., 

not l<cn kept in spirit or even in 1- 
individuals as well as with those representing u> in 
high ptilitidl { -e not contention and partisan- 

ship, and those ir:\:j.i, cheap concerns of life to which 
wc arc so much gi\'n .i\rr, irTvtn- fKf >..i)n*s 'H an 



THEODORE ROOSE\ ELT 33 

indictment of our rhetorical patriotism: We seem at 
times of the notion that prating of our political virtues 
is proof of their existence, whereas, on the contrary, 
it is often relevant testimony tending to establish the 
falsity of any such claim. And, to understand how 
permanent must Ix: the memor> of Theodore Roose- 
velt, we have but to realize that every one of the 
failures on our part to live true to that covenant, is 
rebuked after no uncertain fashion, by his unbraiding 
fearlessness and inspiriting life. 

If THI-\, wc are to organize for our councils we 
must have someone to preside over us in the chair of 
authority. The chair has been long vacant, wc must 
agree. Not that wc have not had and do not still 
have in political, social and business life, men of 
notable and enduring achievements, whose names are 
a synonym of fealty to the State; but no one of them, 
as I have said, represents an approach in this respect to 
what RtK>scvclt stands for in popul.ir esteem, or could 
fill that chair so acceptably as he. 

Your presiding officer, Mr. Cocks, and Dean Treder, 
and myself were just now reminding ourselves how all 
gatherings where the words and deeds of Theodore 
Roosevelt are recounted, seem per\aded by his spiritual 
presence. Dix-s it not seem to you that it is here with 
us this evening? .\nd as illustrative of my thought 
concerning the rightful tKCupancy of that chair, let 
me recall to you some lines from Longfellow, who. 



34 IHKODORE ROOSEVELT 

though not always the poet of inspiratio:; .;;... sav* 
quickening things, which will live on both for their 
poetic beauty as well as nobility of thought. In a 
riMfcJ poem he is pc.rtnvin^' Burns, as one whose ** hand 
^•u;.!cs every pK»w ", whi»M: "voice i^ ' ' 

niKik, each rustling l»ough." To L»:.^: :. s 

was Scotland and Scotland was Bums, just as Roose- 
velt, in himself, was the personification of love of 
country. And at the end of the poem Longfellow, in 
moving u ' • i- ^ -i-- gnxting for Burns 

fJt- / ihif room to-ntght, 

T f' '.. mt'^ .'■ • ''•^' 

. ! am thsi fsr (oarr 
Welcome h^nesih // 
MV/.of/i^.' this V^SHt chmir u thtw, 
l)e*r xur ' ' 

Let us think of such an m\ ts extended, for an- 

other pi. , to T' ^v 

velt. A: ...^ '<•■ •- ' ., .4,^ ^^ ;,, 

be indifferent listeners to the t if his life? 

Shall we, like Felix of old, when reasoned with con- 
cerning righteousness, temperance and judgment to 
come, nurilv rrcmhle and then add: "Go thy way, 
when 1 ha\c a nu.'-c conveniens ^^^ n | ^jll call for 
theer " A thousand times a thi . mes, let us fer- 

vently pray that this be not so. 

Some of you have not had the experience of being 
born in the counlr>'. Some of you are too young even 
to know of the Prorr.iLrd Mrftink: — u'^f rr. when 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 35 

the time i*<r exhortation came, the Anxious Seat was 
set aside for those who had evinced a desire to seek 
the so-called salvation of the forbidding orthodoxy of 
yesterday. What we need to-day, however, is to sit 
in a new Anxious Seat, for the purpose of embracing 
that political salvation of which Theodore Roosevelt 
was privileged to Ix: the nobly commissioned exponent. 
And may wc, through communion with his chief 
article of faith in public life, learn by heart, in more 
than one way, these impelling lines from Mtasurf for 
Mrasurf, which were an injunction for the govern- 
ment of the State and which he so well interpreted 
by his aspirations and career: 

Thyself snd thy belongings 
Are not thine own so proper as to wsjte 
Thyself upon thy virtiurs, ihry on thee. 
Heaven doth 'xith us as u:e with torches Jo, 
Not light them for themselves ; for if our virtues 
Did not go forth of us, *twere all alike. 
As if wa had thrtn not. Spirits are not finely touched 
But to fine issues. 

1 S.Ain a few moments since that Theodore Roose- 
velt sleeps under the wings of Renown; and he will 
continue to sleep there, irrespective of what we may 
do or fail to do in his honor. Yet this further thought 
occurs to me. .Although many orthodox lx;liefs have, 
with time, fallen away from us, one survives, even 
among men of science as well with the poets and 



36 lllEOUOI M i.'novfrvFIT 

philosophers, that, in inc i.crc-iitcr, cuns.joUb exist- 
ence may well be the recompenM: to a creative life. 
And — if we nuke manifest and vocal in our lives his 
passionate love of countr>', and cause hts \nsion of a 
regenerate citizenship to become for us a reality and 
sure p< — we can, without any approach to 

intellect ntliation, conceive of him in some spirit 

abode, as witnessing the seeds he had sowed quickened 
into an abundant and abiding han'est for the gocxl of 
the State, and as knowing that he does sleep 

VmUr thf / Renov^n. 

Shall tth and dcvocion and sacrifice 

build such a niunumr " nemor)' and to the 

Republic? 



T«( rLIMPTOH paiu 

NORWOOD 

MA 11 

A 




013 980 662 1 ^ 



